Crash update

Google is a heck of a useful tool. I Googled "accident, Redlands, Barton Road, San Timoteo" and found a Press Enterprise article (scroll down to the second headline, "Man critically hurt in Barton Road accident") with more information about the crash. The man who hit me is named Helmut Krause (I am the mysterious "woman in the Mazda"). I also spoke with the police officer in charge of the investigation today, and was informed that Mr. Krause was in critical but stable condition last she'd heard, so it's possible he'll recover after all. Please continue to keep him and his family in your prayers.

I owe my dad, the urgent care physician and all the rest of you who've said "you're going to feel a lot worse tomorrow" an apology. I assumed that you were exaggerating the after-effects of an accident, and thought I was made of tougher stuff - until I woke up this morning feeling as though a steamroller must have run over me sometime during the night. I literally could not lift my head from the pillow without excruciating pain. The scariest thing is that it's supposed to be even worse tomorrow. Thank God for Vicodin and muscle relaxants! :)

However, my full-body owie (as my husband has so perfectly dubbed my whiplash) seems a small price to pay considering the injury or even death that could easily have resulted. The accident keeps replaying in my mind, and I still can't figure out how I managed not to hit the cars in front of me. While I'd love to chalk it up to divine providence, that doesn't seem very fair to Mr. Krause - why didn't God see fit to protect him, too?

Divine intervention or not, I feel very fortunate, and am grateful to God for my life. I pray that I'll never take a second of it for granted.